tecuani (Mdz34r)

tecuani (Mdz34r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for a ferocious animal or wild beast (tecuani) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Tecualoyan. It is a jaguar head in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. Its coat is orange with black spots. Its visible eye is open and teeth are visible in its mouth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Literally, tecuani refers to a people-biting creature. Fernando Horcasitas observed in contemporary Nahua communities that the dancers who played the role of the tecuani were dressed as jaguars. See ocelotl in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Teeth Protruding/Noticeable
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Colors: 
black
orange/terracotta
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
spotted or mottled
Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

tecuani. This jaguar or ocelotl on display at the Museo del Templo Mayor has markings similar to the glyph, above. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, 15 February 2023; this commentary by Robert Haskett.

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tecuani, ferocious wild animal, literally one that bites people, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuani
cua, to eat or to bite, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Bestia Feroz y Salvaje

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 34 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 78 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

See Also: 

Tecualoyan (Mdz34r)